


The Genuine Summoner, Accept No Substitutes

by silveradept



Category: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 04:46:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12005325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Balthier, Summoner and Scourge of Sin, expects a warm welcome from the village when he arrives with Fran, his guardian. Instead, he gets rained on, slapped about, and snarked at from all corners.





	The Genuine Summoner, Accept No Substitutes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laughingpineapple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/gifts).



"That's right, ladies and gentlemen, this is your opportunity to see a genuine summoner! The scourge of Sin, the savior of Spira! Besaid born and raised. With my trusted guardian Fran, we will make the world clean again!"

Balthier's voice echoed through the otherwise empty village. When the crowd he was clearly expecting failed to materialize, he turned to Fran with a look of befuddlement on his face.

"That's odd. Normally, this brings everyone out to say hello."

"Perhaps," Fran said testily, her ears twitching, "they be no wish to be as wet in this rainstorm as we already are."

"That can't possibly be it," Balthier countered. "We've been in much worse weather than this and the village puts on a feast to say hello."

A bolt of lightning crashed down a few feet away from the two, illuminating the actual reason why the villagers were inside - a very large Fiend made of what looked to be jelly stood on the other end of town.

"Well, that makes sense," Balthier said, smiling slightly. "What do you think, Fran? Should we go cook some pudding?"

"If it will get me out of this rain and stop you from making further horrible jokes, then yes. I do not like wet fur."

The two rushed through the empty town square, occasionally separating when Fran told them to, right before a lightning bolt illuminated the space they had just left.

As they came closer to the Flan, Balthier noticed a woman who appeared to be playing with a doll near the area, often before the Flan would be harried by lightning bolts striking against its surface.

"What are you doing here?" she shouted at them. "Get inside before you draw more lightning to yourselves!"

"Fear not," Balthier said, striking what he thought was a heroic pose in front of her. "I'm the--"

Whatever glib statement Balthier had prepared was lost as a giant watery limb slapped Balthier far into the air, giving Fran and the woman enough time to duck and avoid the same fate. Taking a quick look up, Fran pointed at the ground where Balthier was about to land and cast up a small whirlwind to collect Balthier and safely deposit him on the ground. Without looking to see whether or not it would actually do so, Fran returned her attention to the flan, nocking an arrow to her bow. Before she could fire, Fran and the woman split to avoid another appendage trying to squash them.

"Those don't do much against those Fiends," the woman shouted at Fran.

"Better than nothing!" Fran shouted back. "I could use some lightning!"

The other woman incanted, and at the right time, Fran stepped out and fired a volley into the pudding, providing a tight grouping for the lightning to follow.

The bolt from above flashed down into the flan, concentrating itself exactly in the arrows that Fran had shot in before exploding itself outward, taking a large chunk of the creature with it. Fran smiled at their victory.

And then the flan started regenerating, adding more jelly to the space where it once was.

"That was the strongest thing I had!" the other woman shouted. "Get out of here and save yourself!"

"And that's what I'm here for," Balthier said, finally having landed back in the ground. "Because--"

"Less posturing, more fighting!" Fran shouted, saving Balthier from being smashed by putting a succession of arrows into the appendage rapidly hurtling toward him.

"Fran," he said, "you have no sense of style. Besides, it's not time for my heroic sacrifice... yet." Balthier hesitated slightly on the last word before spinning his staff and striking the ground with it.

A lightning strike from the other lady made the flan shudder and shriek and turn its attention toward her. Fran took the opportunity to put more arrows into the flan while it was away from her. When the flan turned her way, the other woman struck it with bolts of lightning until it moved back in her direction.

"Well, then," Balthier said, all have of his earlier joviality gone, "shall we?"

Balthier began to draw symbols in the air, the ancient language of the summoners shimmering as his staff traced the glyphs.

"The sweep that engulfs death, Steel Grey!"

A flash from the glyph seemed to acknowledge him, but Balthier was already on to the next symbol, weaving his staff through the air.

"Bubbling and boiling blood, Heat Crimson!"

The second glyph flashed. The flan turned its attention to Balthier, trying to smash him before he could finish the summoning. Fran and the other woman poured lightning and arrows into it until it shrieked in pain and pulled back without attacking.

"Finally, the light that penetrates darkness, Lightning Yellow."

The third glyph flashed. Underneath Balthier, a glow began to spread rapidly, lighting him from below in a way that made him look like a Fiend himself.

"Come forth! Spark of Destruction...Ixion!"

Balthier put his hand on the ground, and a unicorn with a scythe for a horn jumped out from the glowing void, which vanished underneath them.

"Give it everything you've got!" Balthier called to Fran, who continued to fire arrows in. "With me!" he called to the other woman. "Bring the hammer! Three, two, one..."

Lightning erupted from the sky and the point of Ixion's horn, flashing into the flan, arcing between all the arrows in the gelatinous body until it exploded in all directions, showering everyone with flan jelly. 

"That's less dramatic than I was hoping for," Balthier said, dismissing Ixion with a wave of his hand as the rain began to abate. "Ah, well, good deed done anyway. Let's find somewhere to go get clean." Balthier started looking around for anywhere that advertised itself as an inn.

Fran had jelly in enough places that she knew she would be shaking it out for days after she used all the hot water in the village trying to wash it away. Balthier's cavalier attitude toward danger was the reason she was this way. It would be easy to cut short his journey, and nobody would know...

"He's not worth it," the other woman said, twisting as much as she could out of her hair. The skirt of belts had mostly shrugged off the flan, but her top was going to need a lot of attention. "Summoners think the world revolves around them."

"Right now, my needs are for a hot bath and to get out of these clothes," Fran replied. "After that, I will deal with _him_."

"Come stay with me, then," she said. "I'm Lulu. My boyfriend, Wakka, is devoted to Yevon and would be ecstatic to have a summoner stay under our roof. I still have enough magic to heat the water," she added teasingly.

"...very well," Fran nodded, trying not to let on how grateful she was. "I am Fran. Balthier! We have hosts for tonight."

"Splendid!" he said, turning around and trying to flash a winsome smile through his jellied face. "And in such beautiful company, I'm sure the night will pass with ease."

Lulu ushered them to the beach nearby, then conjured bubbles of water around each of them that agitated and warmed them, scrubbing everywhere possible to get the jelly off of their bodies and clothes, before popping off them and flying out to sea, leaving all three fighters dry of flan, water, and all the dirt and dust they had collected on the roads.

Wakka met them at the door to their cottage, a little ways away from the village square.

"The summoner!" he said in recognition, making the symbol of Yevon. "We are honored to be you staying here tonight. You'll have to tell me all about your adventures," he continued, leading Balthier inside.

"They'll go on for hours until Wakka's curiosity is satisfied," Lulu said, with a slight smile.

"I think Balthier's ego will take at least as long," Fran replied, mirroring Lulu's smile.

The small girl at the table inside the cottage put down her pencil and stared at Fran's ears for a long moment.

"This is my ward, Yuna," Lulu said.

"Are those real?" Yuna said.

"They are," Fran said, "and they can hear that your father is calling you so you can listen to the summoner's stories."

"Can I?" Yuna said, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Very well," Lulu said, "but be ready for dinner."

Yuna scampered off, leaving Fran and Lulu to take seats at the table. Fran let out a small sigh of happiness at sitting in the comfortable chairs. 

"I don't see any Viera outside Macalania these days," Lulu said. "What brings you outside the Wood?"

"He does," Fran replied, indicating the other room where Balthier was. "When Sin returned, he came to the Wood to beg our aid and the blessing of our Fayth. He came out of the temple clinging to life.

I had just spoken...unwisely to those who ruled the Wood, and they tasked me with following and assisting him until he should finish his mission. They do not expect to see me alive again."

"What do you know of the summoning?" Lulu asked quietly.

"The summoner chooses the one he is closest to and transforms them into the Final Aeon." Fran replied.

"Who then becomes Sin, and the cycle starts anew," they finished together.

"Yuna's the daughter of the last summoner," Lulu said. "I accompanied him on his pilgrimage, as one of his guardians. With the way Wakka talks about him, I worry that Yuna is going to want to follow in his footsteps."

"Perhaps Balthier will be good for that ambition, then," Fran replied. "He's in no hurry to finish what he's started. He enjoys the food and the adoration too much to sacrifice himself any time soon. His piety is...questionable at best. If he fights Sin, it will be by accident."

"Are you sure it's his ego that's getting in the way?" Lulu asked. "It seems like he has an eye on you."

Fran laughed sharply. "We have been traveling companions for a very long time. We are not intimate in that way, and Balthier's eye wanders far too much for him to be interesting to me, if I were interested in Humes at all."

Lulu nodded. "I'm sorry, Fran."

"Do not be. Viera are not seen very often." Fran stifled a yawn. "I fear I shall sleep the night away without the opportunity to taste your cooking."

"It's just about ready. I should probably gather the storytellers so they can eat while they continue to talk." Lulu got up from the table to go fetch the others.

The food was plentiful and delicious, and the stories flowed, although Fran would routinely attempt to curtail Balthier's wildest exaggerations. The bed was soft, and the sleep deep.

Balthier was thanking Wakka for the hospitality when Lulu came out, a traveling bag in her hands.

"I saw the last summoner through the end of his pilgrimage. It's my duty to see you though this one. There's a Fayth in the temple nearby, and if your performance yesterday was any indication, you're going to need all the help you can get. Let's go."

Without waiting for a reply, Lulu turned away from Balthier and Fran and stated walking toward the road that had brought them into the village. Fran and Balthier followed soon after.

"I, for one," Balthier said, once they were all on the road together, "am going to enjoy being in the company of such beautiful--"

A bolt of lightning flashed down from the clear sky inches in front of Balthier, cutting off his remark before he could finish it.

"Very well, then," he said, a small smile on his lips. "I guess the romantic subplot can wait until Act Two. Onward, to the temple!"

Fran shook her head. At least now she had someone else to talk to. And plot with, should it ever become necessary.


End file.
